Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Travelling the World to See You Charm Accordion Card

My friend is returning to Chile, her original country, after living in the U.S. for many years. She was one of our first friends when we moved to NC over 22 years ago. I made this card for her as part of her going away gift. The map of Chile is subtly in the background behind the globe (cut from a sheet of patterned cardstock by Tim Holtz, from the Correspondence paper pad). We hope to visit her one day so we will definitely be "Travelling the World" to see her.

The stamp set "Travelling the World to See You" is by Dreamerland Crafts. It is a high quality polymer set of clear stamps in a slightly smaller size than their rubber stamps - perfect for smaller cards. The stamp set also comes with dies for some of the stamps. I could have used the dies for this card but since the area where I wanted to put the boy is much smaller than a standard card front, I decided to use masking. The card base was made with the Charm Accordion dies by Karen Burniston. The card is a "mini" size, measuring 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches. It's super cute!

To color the images, I used some inexpensive watercolor pencils I recently bought on Amazon during Prime day. The brand is Ooku; it includes 48 watercolor pencils, plus a sharpener, brush, and case. This is the first time using them. They worked better than I had expected. The biggest issue I have with them is that they are a bit crumbly - a light hand should be used when coloring. The set does contain a lot of useful colors so if you need a set of watercolor pencils and can't afford an artist quality set, these might be the perfect solution. I will be posting a mini-review of them coming up, plus giving away the set I used on this card! Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for your chance to enter.

Affiliate links may be included in this post. See Notice at bottom of blog. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. There is no cost to you.

Making the Card

1. Stamp monocular (hand held telescope) and boy from stamp set Travelling the World to See You (Dreamerland Crafts) on masking paper (or Post-it Tape) in waterproof black ink. Cut around each. Stamp the monocular on Bristol or watercolor paper so there will be enough room for the boy and the cloud. Mask the monocular. Using the boy stamp, line up the eyepiece with the boy's eye and stamp. Mask the boy. Stamp the cloud so it looks like the boy is sitting on it. Stamp globe in a separate area.

2. Watercolor the images (you don't need to color the globe base). I used Ooku watercolor pencils (see intro for information on them).

3. Once dry, cut around images - cutting the Earth away from the globe base. Using a black brush marker, from the back side go around edges to cover white. Lightly ink some edges of the images with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and an ink blending tool. Note: when I mounted the Earth on the card, the parts that stuck up were too white on the back so I used a gray Copic marker (N4) on the back, as well as on the edges of the dimensional tape; unfortunately, the marker went through the paper - something I should have thought of! I ended up adding more Distress Ink to help blend it. You do not need to add as much unless you like the look. Instead you may want to use a gray pencil to color the back (same in step 5).

4. Die cut card base and center charm holder/frame (Charm Accordion) from postcard/stripped double sided patterned cardstock (Correspondence, Tim Holtz Idea-ology). I used the bottom left corner of the postcard side of the paper for the card base. Keep the small frame inside piece of the charm holder for step 5. Die cut 6 copies of the corner decoration (swirls) from muted blue cardstock (matching the blue strips on the paper). I couldn't find one that matched perfectly so I used a very light pink/purple Copic marker on some blue/gray cardstock. It changed the color enough to match. Instead, you could match the red or beige stripes (and/or use Distress Ink to help with the color). Die cut 5 stars from gold glitter cardstock (I used Core'dinations Glitter Silk Cardstock). Cut the charm loops off of 4 of them. Optional: find the quarter sized map (Correspondence, Tim Holtz Idea-ology); use the base Charm Accordion die to cut out the desired section to decorate one of the panels. I cut it such that Chile would show on the left side under the globe. Trim off tabs and adhere to card base where shown (striped side, left panel). Die cut "jump ring" from light gray cardstock (I cut two copies and glued them together to make it thicker). Assemble card as shown in video below.

5. Color back sides of globe and boy where they will stick out using gray watercolor pencil or a gray colored pencil for this. Using dimensional tape, adhere to card as shown (be cognizant of how the card will operate, i.e. the globe must remain inside the window so it can swing without touching; the cloud will go under/towards the back on the right side in the open position). In black ink, stamp sentiment "Travelling the world to see you" on light gray cardstock (note: mine has a slight wood texture stamped in the background in VersaMark Ink - left over from another project; it is unnecessary but if you like the look you could stamp a subtle background pattern before stamping sentiment). Die cut using square decorator die (Charm Accordion). Use ink blending tool to add Pumice Stone Distress Ink to edges. Cut off diagonal corners from striped frame (saved from step 4) and glue on to adorn edges around sentiment. Adhere stars and corner decorations where shown (I used dimensional tape under the top left star for the front of the card). Adhere the sentiment using dimensional tape as shown, overlapping one glittered star.

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About Me

I'm a professional photographer, with interests in art & paper crafting, board gaming, martial arts, P90X, and diving. I created this blog, Awash with Color, to inspire others, share tips, and have fun! I have a Facebook page, YouTube channel, Instagram account, and Pinterest gallery associated with my crafts as well.
I am Certified Copic Instructor and formerly a Class Instructor for Michaels (PaperEd: scrapbooking, card making, Copic coloring). My first design team was for Elizabeth Craft Designs 2014, followed by ECD's Susan Tierney-Cockburn's DT, 2015 - part of 2016, then finally back to the ECD team for the rest of 2016. I was also part of the Oak Tree Stamps DT 2015, Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Artist in Residence Program 2016, Frantic Stamper DT Jan/Feb 2017, Rubbernecker Stamps DT Sep 2017-Jan 2018, and Xyron Design Team 2018. I was a guest designer for Paper Smooches (October 2016) and Your Next Stamp (May 2017). I am currently on the Dreamerland Crafts team.

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I receive free products and/or possibly monetary compensation from a few of the companies (e.g. for working on a design team or doing a product review). I also get a small credit for referrals clicked through from my pages (i.e. affiliate links); this does not increase your price but does help me to be able to create more since it goes right back into craft supplies. Of course I spend WAY more on craft supplies than I should... but that's another story. Regardless, all opinions are my own. Required jargon: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Share a Sale, and other affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and/or other affiliated sites. Note also that this site may use browser cookies and possibly personal data; Google's Blogger software (used for this site) uses cookies to provide and improve their services or for ad tracking and compensation (AdSense). By using this site, you consent to this use, including those for ad personalization (e.g. by collecting personal data). See Privacy Policy for more information and opt-outs. Thank you for your kind support of my work! I really appreciate it!